Urban Dead: The Price of the Oath

[Cynical Cat]

Reaper waited.

[Josh]

He took a deep breath, then pulled the shotgun up to rest on his shoulder. "You want food. We've got trenches full of body parts out in front of the mall. We have active hunting teams going out as soon as we're finished with the current situation, and we're going to put as many of..." he paused, deleting the words 'your kind' from the sentence to come. "them down for good as we can. You can't stay at the mall, you were right about that. But we can work together."

You fucking butcher.

It was irrational and he fought it down, but the men of the Szuhonkobeker line were quite good at irrational hatred. It had gotten them kicked all over Europe in their day.

[Cynical Cat]

"Reasonable. Sensible. You will also want to study me, yes."

[Josh]

"Hadn't even thought of that," he admitted. "But if you're willing, sure. We keep you in food, ammo, heat, and off our target list, and in return you fight on our side and let the medical people figure out what's going on with you. Sound like a good deal to you?"

[Cynical Cat]

"Better than alternative. It will get harder soon. Leaders are adapting. Learning."

[Caz]

Melanie interjected after Petro's last statement:

"Although if you don't want us to attempt to make you human again, we won't." She said. "I'm in charge of the medical staff; they'll do as I say."

[Cynical Cat]

He shrugged. "Needle? Won't work."

[Caz]

"We've actually dealt with two strains of the virus that the Necrotech needles couldn't cure," she said. "The man you saved, Silver, is the result of one such cure, as well as others among us."

She didn't mention whatever bizarre remedy Jared had used on Punt. That would be more than confusing.

"I know one who'd be especially willing to help us on this project, once she's well. She wants to repay you."

[Cynical Cat]

He grunted. He had recovered enough intellect to have discarded hope. "Sure," he replied.

[Josh]

"Okay, this is all well and good. We can talk it over more later, right now we have an attack coming up and we could use your help. We're gonna finish these fuckers off and clear our neighborhood again."

The thing he'd said about the leaders was burning in Petro's mind, though. When this was all said and done, the Irregulars were going to have a new mission. They weren't needed to do the supply and long-hunt runs anymore anyway.

He turned to the stairs.

[Cynical Cat]

"Wait," said Wendigo. "They may have reacted to the flare." He kicked a pebble down the stairs. "See if the noise stirs anything."

[Josh]

He readied his shotgun, peering over the edge of the roof.

[Caz]

The pebble bounced harmlessly off the stairs and over the side, which were zombie-free.

"Oh," Melanie said to Reaper, "before I forget..." She removed her scarf and handed it to him.

"Wear this and my men won't attack you," she said.

[Cynical Cat]

He accepted the scarf and wrapped it around his neck.

[Josh]

He carefully went down the stairs, shotgun leveled, ready to blast anything that said 'boo'.

[Caz]

Melanie followed him, pistol drawn, and as they reached the bottom floor of the carpark, there was a tremendous clatter from within it followed by a 'mrh?'

[Josh]

Which was answered by a blast from his shotgun at the source of the noised, followed by a racking of the shotgun as he backpedaled away to increase the range between him and the zombie. "Up the stairs!" he ordered loudly. If it came out, it'd go for him. That'd let them crossfire the fucker.

[Cynical Cat]

"You. Stay back. Better shot. Weaker. Soft skin. Don't regenerate. Make them come through me if they want to get you. Smarter. Better use of resources."

Reaper had drawn a combat knife and the 9mm H&K. He was ready to show the shamblers what it meant to tangle with the top of the food chain.

[Josh]

He swung to the side, where he could at least cover Reaper without catching him in the wide spray of the unchoked sawed-off.

[Cynical Cat]

"Should be coming. Should know you're here. Not even leaders should restrain them."

[Caz]

She stiffened as the gunshots broke out, retreated up the first few stairs and pressed herself against the wall so as to get a better view of the action while maintaining optimum cover.

However, the position gave her a considerable blind spot, and they all seemed to have forgotten they were on a multi-level structure.

Two zombies, feraks that had been drawn by the flare, half-tumbled down the icy stairs, one knocking Melanie forward into Petro while the other sank its teeth into her neck. She managed to fumble her pistol and shoot it in the gut, but that hadn't taken it out.

[Josh]

He screamed an inarticulate battle cry as he lurched forward, stepping on Melanie's thigh and ankle in the process as the shotgun roared, blasting into the zombie.

[Caz]

She felt something in her ankle give beneath the weight of him and braced herself as the shot rippled through the zombie's head. The second zombie lurched forward, pawing madly for Petro's arms in a windmill motion.

[Cynical Cat]

Reaper reached forward, seizing the shambler that had Melanie. He drove his thumbs hard into the zombie's jaw, forcing them open. He yanked the zombie free and smashed its head into his knee. And then again and again. He tossed the shambler aside and freed his axe.

[Josh]

He reached down with a strength born of maniacal desperation and grabbed Melanie around the waist, hoisting her up with one arm as he spun a circle, shotgun clenched in his other hand and looking for new targets. The blast had been close enough that zombie bits had sprayed his face, and his hair had come loose at some point, giving him an utterly deranged look.